the boston pledge 2010 conference program

www.thebostonpledge.org

Boston Pledge 2010 Conference final 3.indd 1 11/30/2010 10:58:53 PM

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“Tufts Gordon Institute is focused on creating a new generation of engineering leaders who will bring innovation to the complex

challenges and opportunities of the new millennium.”

Robert J. Hannemann, Sc.D.Director, Tufts Gordon Institute

gordon.tufts.edu

Thank You to Our Sponsor


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Schedule

2:00-2:30 PM Registration

2:45-2:50 Jerry Brightman - Welcome

2:50-3:10 Partha Ghosh - An Inquiry into the Power of Micro-Movements: The New Possibilities?

3:10-3:40 Jeffrey Sachs - The Millennium Challenge Eric Giler - Reality of Development

3:40-4:30 Panel 1: Idea to Reality Raj Sisodia - Conscious Capitalism (Context) Kimberly Wilson - Arts of Micro-finance Dilip Mathur - The Dream Weavers Pamela Goldberg - Catalyzing Self Expression

Break Exotic refreshments

4:50 5:30 Panel 2: Dreaming and Making it Happen Mary Viola (Moderator) Chitro Neogy - On the Boston Pledge Experience Jenna Sirkin - Breaking the Poverty Cycle Apparao Karri - Power of Social media David Mok - Micro-volunteering

5:30-5:40 Jerry Brightman/Partha Ghosh: The Road Ahead


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Acknowledgements

This conference brings together the genuine thoughts and wisdom, talents and skills of a wide array of professionals who represent multiple disciplines, multiple cultures, diverse social and professional backgrounds, yet are all working towards a common purpose – to help address what is perhaps the most serious challenge humanity has ever faced: transitioning towards a new socioeconomic dynamic, one that is self actualizing and self energizing, forward looking and un-limiting, to create a more equitable and sustainable future.

This conference, Paying It Forward: Harnessing the Power of Micro Movements in an Era of Economic Turbulence, would not have been possible without the support provided by more than a half dozen organizations and the willingness of world-renowned thought leaders to share their concerns and their innovative proposals for the future.

In particular, support provided by students and leadership of The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy and Tufts Gordon Institute are noteworthy. In addition, special sponsorships from Schlumberger and Action Printing are invaluable

It is our distinct privilege to thank everyone who has directly and indirectly contributed to the development and the organization of the conference on December 4, 2010.

The Boston PledgeDecember 2010

Welcome


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The Boston Pledge

Uncovering the Power Within,Incubating Services for Public Good

Born in the first year of this millennium, The Boston Pledge (TBP) is a non-profit organization that brings together outstanding professionals committed to public service from various spheres of life and professional disciplines to directly address bottom-of-the-pyramid issues. TBP has the strong conviction and overarching belief that by (1) transcending the constraints of self interest and the limits of national borders, (2) providing outstanding leadership to channel intellectual know-how and financial resources to individuals, groups, or government bodies working for the betterment of society, and (3) focusing on empowering people at the grass roots, we will be able to create a virtuous dynamic that could build a more equitable and sustainable society in the long term.

Our mission is to continually develop and perfect a dynamic process to enable people in privileged regions to engage with socioeconomic issues in less privileged regions for the purpose of encouraging all round holistic development and creating a multidisciplinary and multiethnic network for service to humanity. While many humanitarian organizations offer invaluable services following disasters, natural or moral, our goal is to proactively reach out to those regions that need improvement and address root issues for community rejuvenation, before problems turn into insuperable quagmires. Specifically, our focus is on education, health, small-scale industry development, cultural renaissance, and service-sector revitalization. Toward this mission, we view TBP as an incubator of voluntary public service. From Boston to Kolkata, TBP is currently working on several different initiatives including (1) entrepreneurial development to facilitate bottom-up enterprising (2) remediation of arsenic in ground water, and (3) rural development in different parts of the world.

At the core of our work, we celebrate the thoughts of one the greatest philosophers and public servants of the nineteenth century, and a luminary in The First Parliament of Religions at Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda: “Our Real Awakening takes place when we dedicate our life to an Exalted Ideal.”


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Dr. Jerry Brightman is currently President of The Leadership Group (TLG). Founded in 1996 and currently located in Canaan, New Hampshire, TLG is focused on helping leaders and their teams understand and actualize those behaviors that will make them great. He is blessed to be in the unique profession of traveling around the world trying to transform managers into positive, creative, and innovative leaders. Sometimes he succeeds and sometimes he fails – but he always keeps on trying!

Theme SetupPartha S. Ghosh The Boston Pledge - Chairman

Master of CeremonyDr. Jerry Brightman The Leadership Group - President

Speakers

Partha S. Ghosh is the chairman of The Boston Pledge. As a true global citizen, policy advisor and a strategist for Corporates and Governments he is known worldwide as an innovator of Business and Economic models. He teaches Globalization & Economics at Tufts Gordon Institute, Innovation & Strategic Technologies at the Fletcher School, and Leadership at MIT. Mr. Ghosh was a partner at McKinsey & Company and is the founder/Managing director of Strategy/Policy advisory firm Partha S Ghosh & Associates.


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Theme SetupPartha S. Ghosh The Boston Pledge - Chairman

Jeffrey D. Sachs is the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is also Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the UN Millennium Project and Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals.Sachs is also President and Co-Founder of Millennium Promise Alliance. He is widely considered to be the leading international economic advisor of his generation. He is author of hundreds of scholarly articles and many books, including the New York Times bestsellers Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet and The End of Poverty.

Jeffrey D. SachsThe Earth Institute - Director

Eric GilerWiTricity, Chief Executive Officer, Board Member Eric joined WiTricity in 2008 as Chief Executive Officer, and is a member of WiTricity’s Board of Directors. Prior to WiTricity, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Groove Mobile. Eric was the founder and served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Brooktrout Inc., a provider of telecom software and hardware platforms, from 1984 until its acquisition by EAS Group, Inc. in October 2005. Under Eric’s leadership, Brooktrout grew to over $150M in annual revenue, and had a successful IPO in 1992. Eric serves on the boards of directors of SoundBite Communications and Muse Research, and a trustee of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council.

Keynotes


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Paying It Forward: Harnessing the Power of “Micro-movements” in an Era of Economic Turbulence

The Boston Pledge “2010”Conference team

We at The Boston Pledge view the future with a reasonable degree of optimism and a sense of opportunity. This view may seem difficult to understand as humanity struggles through “the current global recession.” Countries around the world are burdened with historically high unemployment rates, sovereign debt crises, shortsighted leadership choices, and most damaging, a decadence of ethics in the governance of macro and micro processes—both corporate and government—while imbalances in equity, ecology, and energy continue to intensify. How can we feel optimism in the midst of this struggle, and where do we see the opportunities?.

This optimism stems from one fundamental faith that each person has the divine power to unleash extraordinary forces that could refresh and reset our individual and collective priorities. In the process, our readjusted focus could well chart a more enlightened and equitable course for the future of civilization. History has repeatedly taught us that out of a crisis comes an opportunity for change. Why not act on that opportunity now?

We believe that the time has come when we have to recommit ourselves to the fundamental principles that constituted the “American Dream” and had roots in earlier world civilizations—that with hard work, with social consciousness, we can achieve prosperity (socioeconomic progress that reaches large sections of society) and self-fulfillment. Once, the dream was pure and selfless. Over time, this originally spiritual quest has mutated into a material one, where self-fulfillment is too often equated with the attainment of wealth and power in society. Instead of pegging our dreams to personal material success, could we once again uncover new pathways to self-fulfillment through inner development and new forms of positive sum relationships with each other, and could we let economic equations follow?

1. The conference team made up of David Mok, Lorie Lin, Rob Frohman and Rui Li worked with Partha S Ghosh The Chairman and one of founding members of The Boston Pledge to develop the theme of this paper for the 2010 Annual Conference of The Boston Pledge.


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Throughout history, sparks of individual brilliance have triggered new forms of social progress. In that spirit, today as we struggle within the narrow constraints of shortsightedness and self-interests, we have to envision the future with a new mindset. With that mindset, we can first view socioeconomic issues not as a hierarchy of economic opportunities but as possibilities at the base of the inverted economic pyramid. By drawing on the power of inversion, we can access a wider platform of virgin opportunities. Second, we can engage with opportunities to do social good not only in the spirit of “paying back” (Gospel of Wealth, Andrew Carnegie), but also in the spirit of “paying it forward.” Third, we will recognize that possibilities are limitless through the creative fusion of micro-venturing, micro-volunteering and micro-finance, what we term “micro-movements.”

Economic Turbulence Today: The Arts of Being in the Twenty-First Century?

At the individual level, we often forget that we have the power to assemble and disassemble our outer conditions—by our inner thoughts, by choices we make, by actions we take—for the greater good of civilization. As we step into 2011, we should remind ourselves of the power we have within us, which could indeed open up new vistas full of possibilities.

Advanced technologies have exposed us to unprecedented opportunities to to address the turbulent current state of our planet by applying our intelligence and creativeness to settle down to a social dynamic that celebrates a cherished ancient ideal. By realizing the power of self-expression by serving the environment around us, we enable equitable opportunities for collective advancement.

The time has come when we must apply our scientific and technological genius to re-engineer our industries to create future products and processes that are ecology- and energy-friendly and most important, to enable equitable and sustainable wealth creation processes.

2. Please read Partha S Ghosh’s paper on Possibilities at the Point of Inflection: Toward a New Relationship between Humanity & Nature, published in The Boston Pledge Observatory Volume 1 during the Annual Conference 2009 on Practicing Green.


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The time has come when we must forget our self-interests in the grandeur of our vision, in a larger ideal, in love of truth and love of humanity. We are indeed at a point in time in the development of a global civilization when we need a generational shift in our state of being, in our ways of becoming, and in our thinking.

The Next Currency: How Do We Reward Change Makers?

In view of the historic transformational opportunity ahead, an urgent question emerges that challenges the very socioeconomic framework we have built. How can we give incentives to change makers to develop innovations while facing the very realistic constraints of tight budgets, high opportunity cost, and frequently inefficient practices? More important than ever, how should our top innovators be rewarded when they excel in solving social problems, in arenas such as conflict and poverty alleviation?

Throughout history, change makers have often tended to be martyrs who were rewarded late in their lives or often only posthumously. In today’s society, when we have new tools at our disposal to assess and predict the effectiveness of change makers, we at The Boston Pledge believe that these people should be celebrated for their clarity of action and vision early in their development of social value creations.

The cost of innovation and social change is high. Throughout much of human history, our society has been fixated upon money as the primary measure of value and the medium of exchange. A lackluster hedge fund manager in New York makes staggeringly more income than a gifted schoolteacher working in Brazil makes. When someone asks the question “So how much do you make?” seldom is that person looking for an explanation of how the respondent makes a difference in the community.

Embracing Complexity: Small Local Change to Stimulate Big Distant Change (butterfly effect)

Indeed, change involves a complex set of variables. How do we create this complexity with simple actions? Social and financial systems are complex, and solving problems within them often requires an empirical approach. Even when, with the best intentions, we try to address complex social issues, attempting to solve them with a centralized solution often falls short. With thousands of organizations at work world wide, we have, as a whole witnessed only the widening gap between rich and poor.


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We believe development issues are best addressed by creating micro-initiatives, which are adaptive and self-energizing, and by fostering an environment of innovation in which homegrown solutions can emerge; these local, micro-level solutions could lead to outcomes that may prove to be more effective than the centralized solutions imposed from outside. We at the Boston Pledge through our Entrepreneurship Springboard Program (ESP) continue to be impressed with the depth and breadth of innovation in economically challenged communities.

Often, we find that micro-changes locally can have a distant and significant impact, especially if those changes resonate within the communities that need them. This conference will explore ways to organize and scale such phenomena and ways to enable communities to solve their problems. Further, we will explore ways to foster environments that permit these solutions to continue to grow on their own and create a domino effect across similar environments worldwide.

Why “Pay It Forward”?

What is the brave future we envision? How could we together implement the emerging dream to create a positive, bottom-up socioeconomic buoyancy?

We must act on the unprecedented opportunities now available to contribute our intelligence and creativity in addressing some of the deeper issues at the base of pyramid, while cherishing the ancient ideal of “paying it forward.” The conference will explore how your offering could probably be the first domino, one that will set in motion a fruitful chain reaction. The world is waiting to hear your voice, and we at The Boston Pledge wish to facilitate this process. We believe that when we perform a good deed for someone without expecting anything in return, the multiplier effect of our humble contribution is immense, and more important, the gratification that we experience in knowing that our good deeds have been passed on through a network of self-actualization is undeniable. We believe that through a “pay it forward” mode of being, the purest form of your individual brand equity will surface, much earlier than you will ever imagine. As Queen Elizabeth the First, in her maiden speech at Oxford, said, “It is not in the seeming, it is in the being, . . . let’s wish for the best.” We at The Boston Pledge add to this statement “it is actually in the becoming.” Shall we pledge today that so that “pay it forward” becomes a natural human instinct?


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Select Abstracts

“People have evolved to a higher consciousness, and business must keep pace or further lose the public trust and continue to cause damage to

the planet and to society. A new paradigm for business, called Conscious Capitalism, offers a hopeful way forward, creating financial, societal

and other forms of wealth while offering greater meaning to their employees.”

Dr. Raj Sisodia

In my view, there is an urgent need to communicate with the public and help to explain where there is consensus, and where are there doubts

about the issues of sustainable development.

Jeffrey Sachs

In this rapidly changing global climate, we need to find new technologies that will help stem the tide. The technologies alone are insufficient

to address changing climate needs. We need to develop and inform business leaders into environmental advocates and leaders to grow the

environmental economy.

Pamela Goldberg

“We stand on the threshold of trying economic times – but times from which some brilliant thinking is beginning to emerge especially from

the variety of Micro movements we are seeing in the world today. At times like this we should heed the words of Albert Einstein who is quoted as saying that the problems we face today cannot be solved with the same type of thinking that existed when the problem arose.

As we gather today, it is our collective hope that the powerful thought leaders who are here with us will contribute their wisdom and insights

beyond the economic turbulence we face today and help guide us to see a future we never imagined – one balanced with the reality of

economic realities and common wisdom. It is not necessarily what our collective vision is – but what the collective vision does.”

Dr. Jerry Brightman


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An Inquiry into the Power of Micro Forces: Realizing the New Possibilities

Today, humanity faces challenges that are indeed significant and profound. We must fundamentally change our mindset in terms of

what we value, how we engage with each other, and more important, how we revere the forces of nature, however microscopic they may

be. Without such a shift of thinking, the progress civilization has witnessed in the last 50,000 years could be rapidly be drawn into a black hole. On the other hand, thanks to new technologies in the fields of bio-, info-, opto-, and nano-sciences, equally significant

opportunities exist for creating an improved balance of the 3Es – Energy , Ecology, and Equity. It is not the deficit of means, but

perhaps the deficit of leadership that is constraining humanity from making the next big leap.

Through improved understanding of nature, we have learned that microscopic mutations, natural and/or man-made, have triggered

mega changes; history has repeatedly taught us that, in times of crises, a few small communities and even a few courageous

individuals have triggered large-scale social changes. I strongly believe that the time has now come, when we have to agree, beyond

the conventional constructs of capitalism and socialism, to a new dynamic enabled by the fusion of micro-volunteering, micro-

venturing, and micro-finance on top of the base of the “inverted socio economic pyramid,”

Only though such a paradigm shift will we be able to unleash the powerful forces that will move humanity towards a more sustainable

and harmonious future. Perhaps in the absence of better word, we could call the new dynamic “Cellularism.” Do we have the will and

the courage to pay it forward?

Partha S Ghosh


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Dr. Raj Sisodia - Panel 1 Keynote

Dr. Rajendra S. Sisodia is Professor of Marketing at Bentley University. A leading figure in the Conscious Capitalism movement, he is also the Founder and Chairman of the Conscious Capitalism Institute. He has Ph. D. in Marketing & Business Policy from Columbia University. In 2007, he was honored with the Award for Excellence in Scholarship by Bentley University. In 2008, he received the Bentley University Innovation in Teaching Award.

Panel 1: Idea to Reality

Kim Wilson is a lecturer at The Fletcher School and a Fellow with the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises and the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. Spending time in India beginning in 2001 through 2005, Professor Wilson worked closely with savings groups, connecting them to banks with a particular focus on tribal areas. She has worked for Catholic Relief Services heading their Microfinance Unit, and in that tenure, spearheaded CRS’ shift from focusing on credit to the poor to savings of the poor. Professor Wilson has consulted for many international agencies in savings and credit. Previously, she was in the private sector, occupying senior management positions in finance and franchising.

Kim Wilson The Fletcher School - Lecturer


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Dilip Mathur

Dilip Mathur is using his entrepreneurial background in the creation of village businesses, village entrepreneurs, and jobs for the ‘base of the pyramid’ population in India. He is the Founder of the Dream Weavers project which uses a unique village business architecture. This project is in partnership with Jaipur Rugs, a company that employs 40,000 weavers. He is a Trustee of YES, and a frequent speaker on spiritual philosophy and happiness.

Panel 1: Idea to Reality

A Tufts alumna (A’77), Pamela Winer Goldberg is the director of the university’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. In addition to teaching, she also manages the team of faculty, runs the lecture series, business plan competitions and is advisor to two student organizations. For more than a decade, Ms. Goldberg held entrepreneurial positions in both for profit and non-profit start up ventures. Prior to that, she started the investment banking arm of State Street Bank after having worked in mergers and acquisitions for Citibank and Banker’s Trust in New York. Immediately before coming to Tufts, Ms. Goldberg was the Director of Business Relations at Babson College.

Pamela Winer GoldbergTufts ELS Program - Director


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Panel 2: Dreaming and Making it Happen

Jenna T. Sirkin, M.A.Jenna T. Sirkin is a health services researcher and a doctoral candidate at the Brandeis University Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Doctoral Training Fellow. Her research interests, experience and publications are in health policy and the international development field. She was awarded the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship in 2006 to support her research with IMIFAP in Mexico City. She is an alumna of Tufts University and the Institute for Global Leadership’s EPIIC program.

Mary Viola, Ph.D.ModeratorMary Adams Viola is currently the Director of Engineering Management at Tufts Gordon Institute. She designs and delivers innovative courses in leadership development, with an emphasis on innovation and working across cultures.Prior to the Gordon Institute, Dr. Viola spent twenty years at Polaroid Corp. There, as Director of R&D, she was responsible for managing new technology platforms, requiring collaboration between other technology and manufacturing firms in Asia and the US.


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Chitro Neogy, General Secretary of The Boston Pledge, is the founder and managing director of Boston based Acadia Edge Group which specializes in innovative social media gaming and social applications. Over the past fifteen years, he has helped to create business value of IT in leading companies such as Eaton Vance, Fidelity Investments, Wellington Management, Netscape/AOL, WebMD, Cap Gemini and Financial Times. Mr. Neogy holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, a M.S. in Robotics from the University of Cincinnati and a MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Apparao Karri is Director of Administration of the Boston Pledge and has 15 years of global experience and a keen eye for emerging trends in the information technology industry. He has been associated with a number of start-up companies and is currently exploring the impact of social media and resulting business strategies in the form of ‘Crowd Sourcing’ and ‘Micro Consulting’.

David Mok currently collaborates with the Boston Pledge on conference initiatives and outreach. As a recent graduate from Tufts University with a degree in International Relations, he has shown a strong interest in poverty alleviation through harnessing technology. He is an aspiring entrepreneur, working on a talent-igniting platform, FavorSpark, to connect skilled doers with influential companies and causes. Previously he has served as Marketing Director of Oxford Entrepreneurs and was the recent recipient of the prestigious Wendell Phillips Award.

David MokFavorSpark, Founder

Apparao Karri

Chitro Neogy


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The Boston Pledge Beliefs

“With egos outside and divine within the possibilities are limitless”….

…“How much good we could do is only limited by how far our vision could stretch and how much courage we could draw from our

inner self”….

…”We only get to know who we are when we immerse ourselves to uncover paths with unknown twists and turns, always being open to

those inspiring churns”….

Quotes from Partha S Ghosh


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Boston Pledge Members

Rex du Pont, phD, CFA – recently retired as Vice President and Director of duPont Aerospace Company. Prior to that he taught finance at Boston University, the University of Maryland and Polytechnic Institute of NYU. He was Chief Policy Analyst for Energy Finance at the Federal Energy Agency during the oil crisis of the 70s, and was a General Partner of the Wall Street firm of Francis I. duPont, Glore Forgan.

Rui Li is a graduate student at Tufts University majoring in Economics who graduated from a Chinese University with B.S and Master in Business. Born in Anhui, Rui is a dreamer and a practitioner of social change. He has a strong interest in literature, history and business innovation. He also is an amateur stand up comedian, screenwriter and social volunteer. Currently, he is working on social media initiatives with David Mok and macro-economic analysis with Mr. Partha Ghosh.

Lorie Lin is a senior at Tufts University majoring in Quantitative Economics, with a minor in Entrepreneurial Leadership. Born in Shanghai, Lorie moved to the United States at age seven and has developed an interest in global markets, entrepreneurship and business consulting. Her past experiences include internships in corporate banking, equity research, and marketing for start-ups. In one of her current projects, Lorie is writing a research paper exploring the implications and sustainability of micro-finance in India.

In addition - Speakers not included: Partha Ghosh, David Mok, Apparao Karri, Chitro Neogy


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Anuradha Mazumdar works as a Senior Analyst for Progress Software, a leading solution provider for business application platform. She has over 10 years of experience working in various industries. She held various technical and leadership positions in Siemens, Accenture and SDL. She holds a B.Tech in Computer Engineering and a Masters in Information Management System from Harvard University.

Sanjay Mazumder is the founder and CEO of RiverMeadow Networks, a Boston start-up to introduce disruptive innovation in cloud computing for next generation IT data centers. Over last 15 years, Sanjay was involved in strategy, business development, product management and marketing, solution delivery as part of startups and large organizations (IBM, Telcordia and Lucent Technologies). Sanjay is a proud alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and Babson College, Massachusetts. Sanjay offers his humble support in The Boston Pledge initiatives with his believe in ‘technology for compassion’.

Inder Monga, a Boston Pledge member with the Entrepreneurship Springboard Program (ESP) in India is a senior technologist with Lawrence Berkeley National Labs focused on advanced networking and applications research. With 15 years prior experience with Wellfleet/ Bay Networks/ Nortel, his professional expertise lies in the seamless integration of Networks and applications. Inder has helped commercialize multiple innovations from patents to revenue. He regularly presents visionary technical concepts and papers and research and industry conferences, and chairs experts panels and groups. Inder has a M.S. in Computer Engineering from Boston University and Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.


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Melissa Pickering recently founded an educational technology company - iCreate to Educate - focused on training teachers and consulting with schools to successfully integrate hands-on tools into the current K-12 science and math courses.

Vijay Narang and his wife Madhu have recently moved to USA to be with their children and grand children and to commence a second career - this time in the area of Business Information. He graduated from IIT Kharagpur in 1964 and worked in various leading corporates including GEC, Good Year, IBM and ITC. He has been participating in various management and leadership programs at Harvard and Wharton

Shirish Nimgaonkar’s experiences have been in starting and growing entrepreneurial ventures, acquisitions and operations in the technology sector and emerging markets. He is currently a Senior Vice President at Access International Capital, an M&A advisory firm in Boston, and manages strategy and transactions for cross border companies. He holds a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, MS from Stanford University and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Ruma Neogy is a professional environmental engineer specializing in environmental compliance management, remediation, air and wastewater pollution controls & treatment for over 12 years. Her primary interests are in sustainability and education. She is a certified LEED AP and the cofounder of online education systems including greenexcelinc.com, satsubjectprep.com and eitpeprep.com. Ruma Neogy has a M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, a B.Tech. in Civil Engineering from BUET, Dhaka. Along with her professional career, she is currently pursuing part time Environmental Management studies at Harvard Extension school.


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Reshma Singh, LEED AP is the Principal of Akalscapes, a Bay Area Landscape Design consultancy, highly regarded for creative design excellence built upon a solid foundation of environmental responsibility. She has consulted with Lawrence Berkeley National Labs on energy-efficient design of commercial buildings. Singh has co-edited Practicing Green: Transitioning to a New World of Sustainable Opportunities, a book showcased at Making Green Economy Real, at the 2009 annual conference for The Boston Pledge. She has a Bachelors degree in Architecture, followed by a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, where she was awarded the Community Service Fellowship.

Not pictured: Kachina Gosselin Sarajot Malik Mahendar Singh


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Who should Commit to The Boston Pledge (TBP)?

Have you ever imagined a world that is radically different? Have you ever dared to believe in the famous lines of Tagore below? If you have, TBP is for you.

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;Where knowledge is free;Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;Where words come out from the depth of truth;Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

While this was an idealistic dream for a newly awakening country that the poet had, today something has gone utterly wrong with the rapidly changing world. We live in a world of deprivation for many and excess for a few, in a world - massively powerful and abjectly powerless at the same time, in a world that can self-destruct at the point of a few buttons. Perhaps it is time for us to really believe that we, the ones in privileged surplus environment, can contribute toward creating a world where there will be true equity, prosperity, and happiness. Realize your dreams. Join TBP. Yes, it is possible.

How could TBP help you achieve your personal and professional goals?

You must wonder, - “how I, who is so busy in a fast paced world, can be a catalyst toward change. While I appreciate the ideals and dreams behind TBP, it may be just too much for me. Is it possible to combine professional and personal goals and help the world at the same time?” Yes, it is. Many professionals and business people have begun working toward a more environment friendly and more enlightened business practices.

In the process of creating a global network of people committed to public service, TBP is committed toward harnessing all the energies released by successful people toward a common goal. You can benefit from such cooperation and make a difference at the same time.


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Most importantly, as TBP brings together professionals from different disciplines and echelons of career ladders, the opportunity to learn from each other is limitless only when we approach issues with the true spirit of problem solving, to help people dream, and then enable them realize those dreams. It provides a wide and a robust platform to experiment with your inner-self, which could be often risky in the corporate environment. As people dedicate their time and passion to our mission, TBP provides a fertile ground for developing the discipline of time and communication management, building confidence in your own skills, - as to how they could be used in service of difficult problems and most importantly in the process uncover your own leadership capacities.

After all, in the words of Elanor Roosevelt: “the Future belongs to those, who believe in the Beauty of their dreams”.

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We will welcome your inputs to what TBP is up to. We will respect any contributions you make.

We do believe it will be a great privilege for all of us involved in expanding the scope of public good with a global perspective.


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